KAMPALA (Xinhua) --Uganda’s ministry of health on Tuesday said there
is no Ebola outbreak in the east African country after blood
samples from a Congolese woman who crossed into the country
tested negative.

The ministry in a
statement issued here said that samples taken from the
48-year-old woman who presented with bleeding at Bwera Hospital
in the border district of Kasese, turned negative of all the
viral hemorrhagic fever including Ebola.

The statement said
over the last two months the ministry has investigated and
tested over 220 samples collected from suspected and alert
cases.

“All these tested
negative of any Ebola strains, Marburg or Sosuga virus,” the
statement said.

The ministry noted
that since the outbreak was announced in eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) on Aug. 1, it has been on high alert.

The statement said
that the ministry of health with support from partners are
supporting districts bordering DRC to heighten preparedness and
readiness to handle any Ebola case that might come into the
country.

All people crossing
into Uganda from DRC are screened for signs and symptoms of
Ebola.

The Ebola virus is
highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including
fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in
many cases internal and external bleeding.

Mortality rates of
Ebola fever, according to the World Health Organization, are
extremely high, with the human case-fatality rate ranging from
50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral sub-type.

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EARLIER
REPORTS;

Uganda’s
mountainous eastern region grapples with deadly landslides

KAMPALA Uganda (Xinhua) --Mountain Elgon, in eastern Uganda, has some of
the best soils in Uganda, producing among others Arabica coffee,
the country’s flagship foreign exchange earner.

The mountain ranges
are lush green, feeding people downhill, even as far as the
capital Kampala, over 250 km away.

Behind the beautiful
scenery and the fertile soils, the locals up the mountain ranges
face the viciousness of the extinct volcanic mountain.

On Oct. 11,
landslides hit Bukalasi and Buwali sub counties in Bududa
district, leaving dozens of people dead and several injured. A
government report issued on Tuesday said the Oct. 11 disaster
left 43 people dead and 21 injured. About 144 houses were washed
away, 13 villages affected, 858 people displaced and 12,000
people affected.

Preliminary
government investigations show that the landslide triggered
boulders into River Suume, which carried them down, killing
people and destroying property.

Musa Ecweru,
minister of state for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees
said in a statement on Tuesday that since May this year when the
first rain season began, the Mountain Elgon region has
experienced 67 landslides.

The country’s worst
landslide happened in March 2010, still in Bududa district,
leaving over 300 people dead.

Musa Ecweru said
that although the country has received several landslides, some
even destroying villages, the number of deaths has gone down. He
said in most of the cases there has been zero deaths though many
houses, livestock and gardens were destroyed.

Ecweru said this is
due to coordination between government, the district disaster
management teams and the locals.

He said the Disaster
Department has trained communities in each parish up the
mountain on how to monitor early signals of landslides.

“The community
leaders use their smart phones and megaphones to alert one
another and communicate with the Disaster Department,” he said.

The Oct. 11 disaster
has caused a change of mind among the people at risk and the
local politicians who have been previously opposed to the
government’s plan to relocate them.

The country’s
Cabinet on Monday directed that the resettlement of persons at
risk of landslides must begin immediately.

According to a
government statement issued on Tuesday, over 900 households
(6,300 people) will be relocated to government land in Bulambuli
district and each household will be supported to build a
2-bedroomed house.

The statement said
starting mid next year, the government will resettle 10,000
people who are at risk of landslides to safe locations.

“All persons at risk
will be resettled and the places they will have vacated will be
planted with trees for environment protection and eco-tourism.”
the statement said.